Social media crimes up 21% in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Crimes on social media, such as sending hate messages, threatening people and disturbing communal harmony, are on the rise, shows data accessed by DH. 

In just nine months of 2025, police have booked 953 cases, a 51% increase compared to 2023 and a 21% increase compared to 2024, data shows. In 2025, police brought down over 300 such posts and blocked over 50 social media accounts.

Senior police officials said the department is keeping a close watch on social media posts that could disturb the society and are registering cases to rein in such behaviour.

“Our officials keep a close watch and even register suo motu cases against people who post content that could disturb the society. Immediate action is also taken against derogatory posts and posts that disturb communal harmony,” M A Saleem, Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP), told DH.

Many of the victims are youngsters, which is concerning, a senior police officer said. “Many youngsters are under pressure to perform on social media. They want to get more likes, more followers and in the process interact with unknown people and get conned,” the officer said. 

The officer urged the younger generation to be cautious when it comes to social media.

“Many young girls and women post their photos on social media without caution," the official added.

"Many of these photos are misused. It is important to exercise caution. There have been instances where people have misused such photos and women are even blackmailed to give ransom to bring down such photos from the internet,” the official added.

Recently, the Bengaluru City Police made a series of arrests after Sandalwood actress Ramya received vulgar messages on social media.

“Many of them tend to ignore such messages and, one day, it goes out of hand. People should report such incidents,” a senior police officer said.

Many women also receive obscene photos and messages, which can also be reported.

According to senior police officials, all the victims have to do is take screenshots of the messages or posts, note down the time when it was posted and report to the nearest police station with the details.

However, sources said that conviction rates in these cases are not great owing to a lack of evidence.

“Many of them file a complaint late. By that time, evidence is destroyed. The conviction also depends on the skills of the investigating officer since investigating such crimes requires a different skill set. We are, however, improving our quality of investigation as well,” one of the officials said.

Challenges the police face

While the number of social media-related crimes is increasing, investigating such crimes is not easy.

Marshalling evidence to make the case strong and tracking down the accused is a big task, officials said. Police are also hamstrung since the social media platforms are not very responsive.

“Most of the handles are anonymous. Then we will have to get in touch with the social media platforms and service providers. These companies are not very responsive and this delays the whole process,” a senior officer said.

In many cases, complainants do not provide enough details, another official said.

“Many of the victims are afraid and they would have deleted some messages or formatted their phones. Also, it is important that they reach out to the police at the earliest. If the complaints are filed late, evidence is destroyed and the chances of tracking down the accused decreases,” the official noted.